FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech women's basketball team battled tough, but came up short against ninth ranked Marian in their home opener, 75-56.
 
The Knights came out firing right away as Joana Soeiro took the opening tip and found Lakan Hasser-Smith just three seconds into the game. Haley Cook would respond at the other end with a three-pointer to put the Warriors up 3-2 at 9:36, but the visitors would take the lead back just a minute later and never give it back.
 
Tech would cut the lead back to one with just over a minute and a half in the first quarter thanks to another triple from Cook, but the Orange and Black couldn't were unable to convert their chances to tie it or take the lead and went into halftime trailing 34-30.
 
The hosts would come out of the break firing as Taylor Seiss hit one of her four three-pointers on the night to cut the deficit to 34-33. Marian would show why they were ranked in the preseason top 10 to begin the season however. With the Warriors trailing 46-41 with six and a half minutes to go in the third period, the Knights would go on 13-0 run and end the quarter with a 60-45 lead.
 
Tech would cut the lead to 10 at multiple points in the final 10 minutes, but were unable to get the deficit to single digits and foul trouble began to hinder the Warriors offense.
 
Cook had a career-high 19 points in just her third game in a Warriors uniform and went 4-8 from downtown and pulled down four rebounds. Seiss would add 13 points and five rebounds, while Rayana Villalpando chipped in 10 and four rebounds.
 
The Orange and Black would outshoot the Knights, 44.4% to 31.6%, from behind the arc, but the visitors had the advantage overall, 40.9% to 34.6%, and from the charity stripe, 83.3% to 63.2%.
 
Tech (1-2) returns to the court on Wednesday for its second home game as they host Grace, its third game in a row facing a Crossroads League foe. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from the Schaefer Center and links to live video and stats will be available at IndianaTechWarriors.com.